Book Review: 'The One You Cannot Have' By Preeti Shenoy

Source: www.goodreads.com

During the last few months, I have been reading quite a few Indian Authors with the sole intention of understanding where Indian writing stands today, esp. what the preferred Genre is for story telling. The more I read, the more I realized how light fiction has become the order of the day. Story lines that revolve around college, MBA, romance and the corporate are the staple. ‘The One You Cannot Have’ is once such book in this newly evolved world of Indian fiction writing.

The story begins with Aman returning to India after a two year stint in the UK. For two years he has stayed away, to get over the love of his life Shruti. The one with whom he spent the most beautiful four years of his life. The one who he had thought he would spend the rest of his life with. The one who broke away because her parents disapproved of him and her mother was suffering from breast cancer. But theirs was the perfect thing, despite spending two years away from India, his friends and Shruti, he hasn't been able to get over her. While Aman continues to live in his past, Shruti has problems of her own. She is now married to Rishabh, an alliance approved by her parents. She leads a happy life with him but yearns for what she had with Aman.

While the two hold on to their past, Anjali comes into Aman’s life and wants to take the place left vacant by Shruti. On the other hand, Rishabh discovers about Shruti’s past and begins to drift away.What happens to their relationships, which strings get snapped and which tie together is what Preeti Shenoy’s latest book is about. While the story line is not beyond the ordinary, Preeti does a good job of tightly coupling the plot together and holding on till the very end. What she also does well, is bring depth to the emotions that Aman and Shruti feel. She brings intensity into their relationship and shows why it was the most perfect, why they will always take that place in each others live, of being the one they cannot have. She also questions stereotypes esp. around societal pressure on starting families and the right age for getting married. She subtly brings about the Indian love for moral policing in the form of Anjali’s landlord and hypocrisy that exists in our society through Dipika.

The story line does not necessarily make it a gripping read, but it sure keeps you engaged while you devour down the pages. Being able to develop a firm story around a plot such that it keeps you engrossed when you leaf through is indeed an accomplishment to be appreciated. And Preeti achieves just that.

However, while I enjoyed this read, a few questions did come to mind. A great job is done in executing the perfect relationship between Aman and Shruti and the fact that neither has gotten over the other has been emphasized. On the other hand the relationship Aman shares with Anjali, is shown to be good but not as great as it had been with Shruti. The usages of words like “The more I talk about her, the more I realize how fond I am actually of her” don’t necessarily convince that Aman’s emotions are strong enough to give up on his perfect relationship esp. when it comes knocking at his door. Also, while on one hand, stereotypes and mindsets are questioned, when it comes to the climax, it seems to fall in line with those very  notions, leaving the reader wondering why, when Aman and Shruti both wanted to be together could they not be? Why, just because she is married, Shruti needs to go back to work things out with a husband who doesn't attempt to understand? Why is it necessary for people to always live with that “if only…” feeling for the rest of their lives.

Maybe this is what Preeti had in mind when she wrote ‘The One You Cannot Have’, to make her readers question  and hunt for those answers?… and if that’s the case, she sure has achieved what she set out to.

‘The One You Cannot Have’ might be one among the myriads of light fiction novels hitting the Indian market today, but it definitely rates high on that list. Purely for the execution skills Preeti brings to the table. Worth picking this book up for another of those Sunday breezy reads.